Staffer's Ten-Year Economic Projection

A dense sheaf of fiscal forecasts stretches a decade into uncertainty, gripped tightly by a determined staffer barreling through the hallway. President Bartlet halts the advance with a glare, his voice dripping sarcasm as he demands projections accurate 'within a trillion dollars'—then escalates the mockery, quipping for a Ouija board and magic wand to match its prophetic delusions. The document quivers under assault, emblem of bureaucratic overreach invading urgent presidential space.

1 appearances

Purpose

Delivers long-range economic projections for presidential review and decision-making on policy and budgeting.

Significance

Ignites Bartlet's biting frustration with unreliable forecasts, humanizing his exhaustion amid espionage crises and legacy battles—trivial paper clashes against moral gravitas, exposing institutional absurdities that grate on principled leadership.

Appearances in the Narrative

When this object appears and how it's used

1 moments

S2E16 · Somebody's Going to Emergency, Somebody's Going to Jail

Bartlet Sarcastically Dismisses Ten-Year Projections

Staffer clutches and presents the dense sheaf of decade-spanning fiscal forecasts in the hallway press, its inaccuracy savaged by Bartlet's trillion-dollar sarcasm; it embodies overreaching bureaucracy, tasked for retrieval post-mockery to underscore prophetic delusions amid presidential haste.

Before: Held and actively presented by Toby's Office Staffer in West Wing hallway

After: Staffer directed to deliver it with satirical props, remaining in staffer's possession for fulfillment

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